A Nation of Dolts....

After eight years as the poster boy for gut-decision uninformed leadership by a man who called the Constitution "just a piece of paper,".... the incurious Decider's sorry legacy will be legions of like-minded dummies.

Proof of the decline of an educated U.S. populace was highlighted by Kathleen Parker in "Voters Fail the Test." (WaPo)

As Parker says, "So much for the wisdom of The People.

"A new report from the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) on the nation's civic literacy finds that most Americans are too ignorant to vote.

"Out of 2,500 American quiz-takers, including college students, elected officials and other randomly selected citizens, nearly 1,800 flunked a 33-question test on basic civics."

Here's the scary part.... "In fact, elected officials scored slightly lower than the general public with an average score of 44 percent compared to 49 percent.

"Most bracing: Only 27 percent of elected officeholders in the survey could identify a right or freedom guaranteed by the First Amendment."

That's right, our leaders. You know, the ones deciding all things that affect our daily lives.

Really not surprising since we watched incredulously as John McCain's VP choice, Sarah Palin.... the governor of a state.... didn't know the duties of the next office she sought, the vice presidency of our country. She thought the Vice President "ran" the Senate.

Of those taking the test, "Forty-three percent didn't know what the Electoral College does. And 46 percent didn't know that the Constitution gives Congress power to declare war."

What's behind this dumbing down of America?

"The ISI found that passive activities, such as watching television (including TV news) and talking on the phone, diminish civic literacy."

What increases civic literacy?

"Actively pursuing information through print media and participating in high-level conversations -- even, potentially, blogging -- makes one smarter. "

That's right.... blogging! Bloggers personify the First Amendment.... you know, freedom of speech, freedom of the press.

Only a sorry 0.8 percent of all test-takers scored an 'A.'

Parker points out, "America's report card may come as little surprise to fans of Jay Leno's man-on-the-street interviews, which reveal that most people don't know diddly about doohickey. Still, it's disheartening in the wake of a populist-driven election celebrating joes-of-all-trades to be reminded that the voting public is dumber than ever."

Let's face it.... most of the economic trouble we are in has come about because people didn't understand the loan agreements they were signing, financial institutions didn't understand the far-reaching ramifications of their actions, and our government was unable to anticipate the severity of.... and appropriately regulate.... this financial house of cards.

It's hopeful that an intellectual Barack Obama prevailed over the McCain-Palin hillbilly-pandering roadshow. As The Decider would put it.... "Our children is learning!"

Will the GOP Evolve?

There is a battle being waged in Texas and within the GOP party.

The outcome of that battle will determine if they go forward toward the liberating cultural complexities and scientific advances of the 21st century. Or, if they will continue their backwards fall into the embrace of the suffocating superstitions of religious fundamentalism.

Case in point.

"State education panel hears evolution debate." (Dallas Morning News) "Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution grabbed center stage Wednesday as State Board of Education members heard from dozens of Texans trying to influence the panel on how evolution should be covered in science classes of the future.

"College professors, science teachers and pro-evolution groups urged the board to drop a rule that requires the strengths and weaknesses of Darwin's theory to be taught in science courses, while conservative groups aligned with a sizable bloc of board members said the rule has worked well and hasn't forced religion into those classes as critics charge.

Of course, conservatives aren't fooling anyone. Their religious wolf under the cloak of "educational freedom" is trying to ambush impressionable hearts and minds.

The first vote on the issue by the state education board will be in January. At stake are the science guidelines for elementary and secondary schools and the materials used for state tests and textbooks. The guidelines would remain in place for a decade after their approval by the state board.

The state's most famous Texan, George "Is Our Children Learning?" Bush, has already weighed in on the debate. In 2005 he famously told reporters that he believes that intelligent design.... creationism repackaged.... should be taught alongside evolution as competing theories. (WaPo)

The report on Bush's remarks explains that "Much of the scientific establishment says that intelligent design is not a tested scientific theory but a cleverly marketed effort to introduce religious -- especially Christian -- thinking to students.

".... Bush's remarks heartened conservatives who have been asking school boards and legislatures to teach students that there are gaps in evolutionary theory and explain that life's complexity is evidence of a guiding hand."

It isn't just the Texas education system at the crossroads, an increasingly marginalized GOP is trying to read the what-went-wrong tea leaves after their defeat in the last election.

As Kathleen Parker said in her recent editorial, "Giving Up on God," (WaPo)..... "the evangelical, right-wing, oogedly-boogedly branch of the GOP is what ails the erstwhile conservative party and will continue" to do so unless the GOP faces "the gorilla".... perhaps that should be monkey.... "in the room."

Parker diagnosis is, "Simply put: Armband religion is killing the Republican Party."

Texas, don't let it kill your educational excellence too.

Obama's Army: Buckley and Jesse, Jr.

William F. Buckley was to the modern conservative movement what was FDR was to New Deal liberalism.

Buckley was the captain who sailed his flagship of conservative ideals into the public discourse. The flagship was the magazine Buckley founded, the National Review.

That is why it is so startling, seismic actually, that Christopher Buckley the Younger not only endorsed Barack Obama -- but then abruptly departed from the back page of the National Review.

Christopher's walking-the-plank for Obama created more than a splash, "it has caused a ripple of contempt from the conservative right," as Kathleen Parker opines today in "WFB Would Be Proud." (WaPo)

Parker explains, "In 1955, when WFB announced his new magazine and explained the reasons for it, he described conservatives as 'non-licensed nonconformists' "

WFB lamented that "radical conservatives in this country have an interesting time of it, for when they are not being suppressed or mutilated by Liberals, they are being ignored or humiliated by a great many of those of the well-fed Right, whose ignorance and amorality have never been exaggerated for the same reason that one cannot exaggerate infinity."

But today, Parker points out, "The truth few wish to utter is that the GOP has abandoned many conservatives, who mostly nurse their angst in private. Those chickens we keep hearing about have indeed come home to roost. Years of pandering to the extreme wing -- the 'kooks' the senior Buckley tried to separate from the right -- have created a party no longer attentive to its principles.
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"Instead, as Christopher Buckley pointed out in a blog post on thedailybeast.com explaining his departure from National Review, eight years of 'conservatism' have brought us 'a doubled national debt, ruinous expansion of entitlement programs, bridges to nowhere, poster boy Jack Abramoff and an ill-premised, ill-waged war conducted by politicians of breathtaking arrogance.' "

Paraphrasing Ronald Reagan, Christopher said: "I haven't left the Republican Party. It left me." ... so he set sail for more hopeful seas.

Regardless of whether it is the son of liberal old-guard Jesse Jackson.... Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr..... who publicly rejected his father's divisive remarks and hanging-on politics in favor of Obama's; or, Christopher who recognized the Republican party no longer represented conservatism and endorsed Obama.... the change that is here is a changing of the guard to the next generation.... to Obama's "working together" can-do discarding-of-old-failed-ideas generation.

It makes one hopeful.